WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Free Speech Coalition, which represents performers, producers and manufacturers for the eight billion dollar a year adult entertainment industry, said in a National Press Club presentation today, that ``apart from deeply held moral concerns against the inappropriate exposure of minors to sexual materials, 14-year-olds do not provide an income stream for adult websites.''

And, said Gloria Leonard, President, and Jeffrey J. Douglas, the Coalition's Executive Director: ``No one wants minors to have access to pornography.''

In a forum titled ``Sex on the Internet: Debating Censorship,'' Leonard and Douglas faced-off against Donna Rice Hughes of the conservative organization, ``Enough is Enough,'' Carol Clancy, an attorney with the National Law Center and Ms. Solving Singleton, Director of Information Studies at the Cato Institute.

Leonard said ``The increasing power of right wing and ultra conservative religious factors -- well-oiled and fervently funded, are poised to attack freedom of expression regardless of which political party occupies the White House next.''

Douglas said that prior to a viewer seeing sexually explicit images, the website should require that a credit card be provided. ``By requiring the credit card, the only mechanism by which minors could gain access to sexually explicit imagery is through consent or negligence of the parents.''

Douglas also said that the widespread presence of pornography on the Internet demonstrates that the demand for sexually oriented materials is enormous. ``No one can underestimate the dollar power and associated commitment of technology that e-pornography has. Part of the explosion of demand arises from the need for privacy in sexual matters socially demanded,'' he added.

He also explained that the very condemnation of pornography which some of the speakers today represent drives the market for Internet pornography.

``I am here to say that the availability of pornography on the Internet is a very good thing,'' Douglas said.

The Free Speech Coalition offers a reward of up to $10,000 each year for information leading to the arrest and conviction of producers and/or distributors of child pornography.

SOURCE: The Free Speech Coalition